Vincamine is a pentacyclic indole alkaloid isolated from Vinca minor. This natural product has been found to be a remarkably efficacious antihypertensive agent. A practical total synthesis of vincamine starting from readily available materials is proposed. This synthesis utilizes a new tactic for the creation of quaternary carbon atoms and differs considerably from those syntheses of vincamine which have been reported. The synthetic scheme is designed to allow a wide number of structural variations to be introduced into the basic vincamine skeleton. In addition, it permits isotopic labeling of vincamine at a number of positions, an advantage which should be of value in pharmacological studies.